Used To Be
by the.terrorist
Summary: Sasu/Saku. Sakura has a mission. Sasuke, currently a member of Akatsuki, has one, too. Saying that he gets angry when he learns that she is in a bar flirting with his target would be an understatement. That, until he finds out the guy is her target, too.
1. The Beginning

**_A/N:_**_ Hello, readers, what's up? I guess you didn't expect to see me so soon, right? I found this story in my computer. It had just the summary and the beginning of the chapter written, but, as I reread it, I realized that I liked the plot, so I decided to continue it. This is what it came out :D. Enjoy and don't forget to review! :)_

_English is not my first language so, sorry for any mistakes._

**_Summary:_**_ Sakura, now an Anbu of Konoha, has a mission. Sasuke, still a missing nin, currently member of Akatsuki, has one, too. Saying that he got angry when he learned that she was in a bar flirting with his target would be an understatement. That, until he found out that the guy was her target, too._

**_Warning:_**_ Rated M for mature themes, violence and language._

**_Disclaimer:_**_ Naruto © Kishimoto Masashi_

* * *

_**Used to be  
**By The Terrorist_

**(---X---)**

_**Chapter one:  
**The Beginning_

* * *

_Some days I'm a super bitch,  
Up to my old tricks  
But it won't last forever.  
Next day I'm your super girl,  
Out to save the world  
And it keeps getting better!_

* * *

A soft sigh escaped Haruno Sakura's lips as she stared at herself in the mirror, her cold eyes scanning her clothing—or lack of thereof. She knew her duty as a kunoichi, and she knew what she was supposed to do—she had done it before. But walking around in a bar—full of perverts, no doubt—with nothing but a small, black piece of clothing on her, that barely covered her essentials, was not a thing she had planned to do in the next decades. But, then again, she was a kunoichi—an Anbu, nonetheless—of Konoha and she couldn't let them down.

Over the years, she had changed very much, both physically and mentally. Sakura wasn't the same helpless, innocent weakling she used to be. Hell no, she was now a strong, reliable shinobi, who had learned that the best way to live her life, is by giving up all the emotions. Because emotions make you weak, unfocused and because they are just unneeded.

Sighing, the pinkette took one last glance at her in the mirror before turning away and getting out of the hotel room. The strapless black dress was short—very short—that she was afraid that if she bent down a little, her underwear could be seen, and clinging to her like a second skin, showing off all the curves. And damn, it looked good. Her high heel shoos—which were getting rather uncomfortable, by the way—accentuated her graceful walk, attracting people's stares.

_'Good thing the hotel's close to the bar.'_ She thought.

Soon enough, she made it to said place without any disturbing things happening on the way. As she entered, all eyes were fixed on her body, every movement she made being closely watched by at least ten people. Smirking slightly, just like she had been taught to, she took slow, graceful steps towards the bar, knowing that it was the only way she could attract _his _attention. From what was written in the scroll Tsuande had given her, she realized what kind of man he was and took her time in thinking just how she should act to fool him.

The guy seemingly liked exotic girls and, with her pink hair, Sakura knew she was up to his standards. Truth to be told, he was up to her standards, too. She had seen a picture of him and, she had to admit, he looked rather good. Spiky, dark brown hair, bright blue eyes, a mysterious and dangerous posture... it kinda drew her in. And, luckily, he wasn't some kind of old, perverted man. If she remembered correctly, he was about nineteen and knew how to pick his girls. Another good point. But then again, he was just another mission.

The pinkette took a seat at the bar and, flipping her slightly curled hair back, asked the barman for a drink—alcohol, nonetheless. Yeah, she was definitely her teacher's student. Sighing, she watched with amused eyes as the man smiled at her and quickly served her, ignoring other people who had been waiting for a longer time than she had. Inwardly rolling her eyes, she took the drink and thanked him, not forgetting to smile slyly at him.

Minutes later, she felt a strong chakra presence enter the bar and couldn't help but turn her head to see who the person was. She smirked, _'And he doesn't make people wait... that's good.' _She thought as she saw her target make his way to a table. Honestly, she thought it would have been harder to locate him, for there were a lot of people in the bar. Sure, she never thought that he would enter in his all glory, not even bothering to mask his chakra. _'He must be really strong.' _

Biting her lower lip, she pushed herself up from her seat and slowly made her way to the small, secluded area he had gone to. The zone wasn't closed, or anything, but it was farther from the crowd, quieter and, well, secluded. Not to mention that the seats were actually couches and that they looked _so_ comfortable. He was slowly twisting his glass, watching as the alcohol rolled inside. As he heard soft clicking noises, however, he slowly lifted his eyes from the table and found the person that made the noise.

His eyes traveled from her shoes, up her long legs, her flat abdomen, her breasts and, as they reached her face, they stopped. Sakura kept her green eyes locked with his icy blue ones, a small seductive grin appearing on her face. And she knew, from the moment a twisted grin appeared on his face, too, that she had already fooled him.

"Mind if I join you?" She asked, playing with a strand of her hair.

"Actually, no." He said and kept his eyes glued to her body as she slowly moved towards him, smirking as she sat as close to him as possible. She began playing with the end of her dress, unconsciously trying to get it to cover up more; it wasn't working, anyway. "What's your name?" He asked, titling her chin up.

"Sakura," She said, smiling.

He smirked. "It fits you," He commented, wrapping his fingers around a strand of her pink hair.

"Hm...What's yours?" She asked, though she already knew.

"Katsu." He replied, before making a sign to one of the waiters to come to him. "What do you want to drink?" He asked, looking down at the pinkette.

"I don't know..." She replied and smiled at him. "Whatever you recommend me."

He chuckled and waved the waiter off, telling him to get her what he had asked for earlier. "Brave little thing you are, huh? What if I gave you something really strong?"

"Hm... that's why people come here, right? To drink..." She replied, not impressed at all by his question. Like, duh, she had _Tsunade _as a teacher and she could now proudly say that she could drink _any kind of alcohol._ Moments later, as the waiter came back with the drink, Katsu took it from the table and offered it to her. Smiling slightly, she accepted it and took a sip, not forgetting to lick her lips afterwards. "It's good," She commented, making him smirk.

_'Keeps getting better...' _He thought.

"So...Katsu, are you a ninja?" She asked, knowing that even he couldn't sense her perfectly masked chakra.

"Yeah," He murmured, sounding surprised. "How did you know?"

"I didn't." She replied innocently, looking at him through long, thick eyelashes. "But I've lived around ninjas all my life, so I know how to recognize one when I see him. You had this air around you...kind of dangerous..."

He chuckled. "And you still decided to come here," He commented, smirking down at her. "Either you're really brave, or you do it often."

"It?" She asked, confused.

"Meaning, getting close to men, without any apparent reason." Katsu explained.

Sakura gave him a little smirk. "Actually, no...I really don't do this often, you know. I know that my outfit is kinda revealing, but it's not because I want to get laid, if that's what you're wondering." She said.

"So, you don't dress like this because you want to attract attention?" He asked, smirking at her.

"Maybe I do want to attract attention," She replied, shrugging her shoulders. "But that's all...I must say, this is one of those rare times a man caught my attention...you can consider yourself lucky." She said, smiling seductively.

"I feel lucky." He replied, his smirk never flattering as he bent down until their noses almost touched. He tried to press his lips to hers, only to have her stop him by placing her hand over his chest. _'Damn, six pack.' _She thought, smirking inwardly. She didn't know why, but she had always been lucky enough to get to seduce only the good looking guys.

He pulled back, giving her a questioning stare, to which she responded with a slight smirk. "I don't kiss men the first time I see them, either."

Katsu chuckled and shook his head, before taking a sip of his drink. Truth to be told, he actually kinda liked her attitude. It was clear she wouldn't give him what he wanted, and still, he found her behavior rather attractive. Blame the fact that he had seen many whores in his life.

**(---X---)**

"Oi, four eyes!"

_Smack._

"Ouch."

"Moron."

"Bitch."

"Asshole."

"Whore."

"Jerk."

"Furry creature."

"F-"

"Guys."

_Clears throat._

"Yes."

"Back to the mission."

"That's good to know."

"Who is this guy, anyway?"

"A dude we have to kill."

"I knew that!"

"Then why did you ask?"

_Smack._

"Shut up, asshole. How does he look like?"

"How am I supposed to know?"

"I was not talking to you, moron."

"Oh."

"Mind answering my question?"

"We don't know how he looks like."

"Then how in the world are we supposed to locate him?"

"Figures. By his chakra, four eyes."

_Smack._

"I knew that."

"Of course you did."

_Smack._

"Ouch. Would you stop?"

"Shut up! I think I see him."

"Finally."

"He's not alone, though."

"Huh?"

"There's a pink bitch with him."

"Let me see!"

"Ouch, watch it!"

"Sorry, but you're too fat for me to fit in next to you."

_Smack._

_Groan._

"Man, she's hot."

"My ass."

"Not your ass, the pink haired girl!"

_Smack._

"Get the fuck out of my way and let me finish this."

"Damn."

"I think she's a ninja, too."

"Are you crazy? She has no chakra around her."

"That coming from the one who can't sense his own chakra."

"Will you shut the fuck up?"

_Smack._

"You shut up! She is a kunoichi. Her chakra is surpassed."

"Keeps getting better."

"Oh, come on! She would never spare you a second glace!"

"Oh, right. Like Mr. you-know-who would spare you a second glace."

"We're madly in love with each other. He just doesn't realize it."

_Chuckle._

"Keep telling yourself that."

"Guys, the mission."

"Oh, yeah."

"I suppose we're going to have to get rid of her."

"I'll take her!"

_Smack._

"No. You take her."

"Yes."

"Be careful how you do it because we don't want to cause a scene."

"Of course, he would never look at you again if you messed this up."

"I will never mess this up. Besides, he already loves me."

"Yeah right."

_Smack._

**(---X---)**

"So, tell me more about you." Sakura purred as she took another sip of her drink. Katsu, who now had a hand resting on her thigh and was holding his own drink in the other, smirked lightly and looked at her intently.

"Why are you so interested in my life?" He asked casually, though his words were more than enough to make Sakura panic. Did he notice something? Had she been too insistent? However, she shook it off, not wanting to show him what she was really feeling at that point. Luckily, he didn't seem to notice.

"I don't know..." She said, trailing off at the end. "I'm just curious, I guess." She said and was about to continue when a loud crash caught her attention. She frowned and tried to see what had happened, but a tall figure appeared in front of her, making it impossible.

"Miss," He said, getting her attention. The guy was tall, with spiky, orange hair and an emotionless face. Sakura thought she had seen him before, somewhere, but she couldn't be sure. "Come with me, please." He continued, confusing her even more.

What could that guy want from her? And why was he being so nice? It was obvious he was a ninja, but she knew he wasn't from Konoha. No headband, no anything that would mark him as a shinobi of other countries she knew, either. Rouge ninja? He was way too nice for a rogue ninja. "What for?" She asked cautiously.

"Please," He continued in a soft voice. "You have to." Sakura frowned, still confused over his statements. What did he mean she had to? Where had she seen him before? He raised her head to look into his eyes again, hoping that she would find something that would help her remember. She didn't, but she found something else. The guy was looking at her with knowing eyes that basically screamed that he perfectly knew she was a kunoichi and that he could tell Katsu everything, if she didn't comply. Frustrating as it was, she only had one option—to go with him and see what the hell he wanted. Swallowing an inexistent lump in her throat, she opened her mouth to speak, only to have Katsu interrupt her.

"Go see what he wants; I'll go see what happens there," He said and stood up, quickly making his way towards the source of the noise.

"What do you want?" She asked as soon as he was out of earshot.

"I have orders to take you away from here." He replied simply.

"What?!" She asked incredulously. "From who? What the hell is going on?" Millions of questions were running through her mind and she wanted nothing more than to find answers to each one. However, he had something else in mind, for the only words that came out of his mouth were, "Please come with me."

"I'm not coming with you until you tell me what the hell is going on!" She snapped, her green eyes glaring fiercely at him.

"You'll find out as soon as you come with me." He answered simply.

She wanted to refuse. She really did. But it wasn't like she had any other option. Either she went with him and risked screwing up the mission, or she didn't go with him, and defnitely screwed up the mission.

**(---X---)**

"Ugh, I can't believe you did that!" A red haired kunoichi exclaimed angrily as her eyes pierced through her teammate.

"I didn't do anything!" He defended.

"What kind of stupid being are you?"

"Shut up, four eyes!"

"Don't tell me to shut up, you fucker!"

Sakura raised an eyebrow as the noise the two of them made became louder and clearer, permitting her to make out what they were saying. She glanced up at the guy walking next to her in an effort to realize if he knew them, or something, but his face was still blank, making it impossible for her to be sure of anything. So she continued to follow him down the path, eager to find out what the hell was going on and to go back to her mission. Soon enough, she could see two persons fighting—a girl with red hair and matching eyes, hidden behind some glasses and a guy with white hair, sharp teeth and a huge sword strapped to his back.

She had seen them before. She just knew it. It was the same feeling she had when she first saw the big guy that took her away from Katsu.

"Are you ever going to tell me what the hell do you want from me?" She asked, her curiosity increasing with each step they took.

"I suppose that now, I can." He answered. "We—"

"Juugo, come here! _NOW!_" The redhead shrieked, interrupting whatever he was about to tell her. And Sakura could have sworn that she had never felt a bigger need to kill somebody. The guy threw her something akin to an apologetic look, surprising her, yet again, and turned to do as he was told.

"Wait!" She yelled after him. "I need an explanation."

"Shut it, you bitch!" The girl from earlier shouted. The pinkette's mouth almost dropped open in shock; sure, she had to face a lot of girls' envy or anger, but she was as sure as heck that she had never done anything to this one. So, how dare she insult her, without even having a reason?

"Was I talking to you, four eyes?" She yelled back, leaving her at total loss of words. Rolling her eyes as she caught sight of her expression, the pinkette turned her attention back to the guy from earlier and opened her mouth to request an explanation, only to be cut off by the same bitch.

"Do _NOT_ speak to me like that, whore!" She snapped.

"I will talk to you however I want to! Got that, bitch?" She shouted and ignored her reply. "I want to know why I am here. I want to know why you took me away from him. And I want to know it now." She hissed, a dangerous tone added to her voice.

"Whoa, pinky, let's calm down, kay?" The other guy said in an effort to prevent a fight. However, the only thing he got in response was a death glare.

"Maybe you want to calm down!"

"I was just saying, you know!"

"I just want to know why the fuck you did what you did!"

"Why should be tell you, bitch?"

"Because you involved me into whatever this is, whore!"

"Fuck you!"

"Better not!"

"Why you littl—"

"Karin. What is going on here?" A deep voice came from behind them, stopping their argument. Sakura watched as the redhead's eyes widened, her mouth shut immediately. The white haired guy shut up, too, his position straightened. The only one who didn't seem affected by the voice was the guy, whose name she learned to be Juugo. Frowning slightly, she turned around, eager to find out just who could have so much power over those two loud beings. As soon as she did so, however, she wished she hadn't. Because nothing prepared her for who she saw.

She was shocked for a long period of time. And, if she didn't know any better, she would have said he was, too. But his face was as emotionless as ever. "_**YOU!**_" She hissed as soon as she regained her composure. "You've got some explaining to do, Uchiha!"

Said person just raised an eyebrow.

* * *

_**A/N:** First of all, thank you guys for taking your time and reading this! I know this chapter has been a little boring, having been formed mostly by Sakura's conversation with Katsu, and by the one between the three members of team Hebi. Anyway, the real story basically starts next chapter, where some other things will be explained._

_However, I need you guys to review, so that I know if this is worth continuing, or not. Can't be losing my time with something you won't read, right? Anyway, review, please! :)_


	2. Confrontation

**_A/N:_**_ Oh my God! Thank you soooo much for your reviews! I was really surprised that I got so many, though it was the good kind of surprised--the one that made me smile, squeal and almost jump up and down. That probably wouldn't have been such a good idea, considering that I have some really annoying beings for neighbors. _

_Sorry for the long wait, but I really wanted to make this chapter as perfect as possible. Couldn't leave you guys disappointed, ne? Anyway, enjoy!_

_English is not my first language so, sorry for any mistakes._

**_Summary:_**_ Sakura, now an Anbu of Konoha, has a mission. Sasuke, still a missing nin, currently member of Akatsuki, has one, too. Saying that he got angry when he learned that she was in a bar flirting with his target would be an understatement. That, until he found out that the guy was her target, too._

**_Warning:_**_ Rated M for mature themes, violence and language._

**_Disclaimer:_**_ Naruto © Kishimoto Masashi_

* * *

**_Used to be  
_**_By The Terrorist_

**(---X---)**

_**Chapter two:  
**Confrontation_

* * *

_How can I decide what's right,  
When you're clouding up my mind?  
I can't win your losing fight all the time  
How can I ever own what's mine  
When you're always taking sides?  
But you won't take away my pride, no not this time!_

* * *

The young Uchiha stared blankly at the girl—no, woman in front of him, still not showing any sing of acknowledgement that he had heard her. He had, but he wasn't going to show what he was feeling right now. Questions were running through his mind at a dazzling speed, successfully annoying the hell out of him. He had never liked being confused, so when he realized that he had no idea what she was doing there, what she was talking about and, above all, what the hell she had become, you can realize that his mood had changed drastically…to worse. Slowly, he let his eyes skim down her body, taking in the changes that happened over the years; but it wasn't the fact that she didn't resemble the old Sakura at all, or the fact that she now had the body of a goddess that caught his attention. It was the fact that she had barely any clothing on.

"What are you wearing?" he questioned, raising an eyebrow. While the others seemed pretty shocked that those were the first words he uttered, he didn't seem to mind. It took the pinkette's mind a while to finally register his question; when it did, however, she could say she was even more confused than before. What the hell was his problem? He never cared about her before, so why would he ask something like that now? Besides, she was the first who asked him something and he had to answer, not to ask another question, damn it!

"Why? You like it?" She spat venomously, her glare intensifying with each passing second, and resisted the urge to smirk when she saw shock flash through his eyes. It was only for a mere second, but she had seen it. _'Ha, the ice bitch isn't so emotionless, after all.'_

His shock came and went and Sasuke soon found himself glaring at her as if wanting her to disappear. It was just a question—she needn't have reacted like that, she just had to answer. Well, maybe that wasn't what he did when he was asked something, but…but he was an Uchiha. He had the right to choose. Sakura, however, was not, so she should have answered. But, anyway, it wasn't like he cared very much. He was just surprised that she would dress like that, for the Sakura he knew wouldn't have done so, but there was nothing more than that. That why he chose not to get involved into that matter anymore. "Hn."

"You always say that when you're out of smart things to say, don't you?" the pinkette commented, but was rudely ignored by the Uchiha, who seemed to have figured out her behavior until now. He had; it was surprising, but he wasn't stupid. It was obvious that Sakura wasn't twelve anymore—even if he let out the behavior thing, it was still obvious. I mean, have you seen that body? Anyway, the point was, she had changed a lot. And, as much as a part of him hated to admit it, he couldn't do anything about it; he could just accept her the way she was.

"What are you doing here?" he finally asked after a few moments of silence.

She scoffed. "Well, that's what I was trying to figure out!" she told him, crossing her arms over her chest. He raised a questioning eyebrow, silently asking her to elaborate her earlier statement. And she did, after releasing what seemed to be a sigh of frustration. "I don't know what I'm doing here. Your pathetic excuse for a team," she said, looking around. "Brought me here."

Sasuke resisted the urge to roll his eyes and bit back the response his mind had ready for her ("Then why the fuck you let them bring you here?"), for he knew that it wouldn't be good for him to lose his composure. Sure, he was known for being always so calm and collected, but he was human and, sometimes, his control slipped and it never resulted in good things happening. As far as he knew, Sakura was one of the few persons that could do that, that could make him snap—he had noticed that a long time ago—and, seeing as she seemed a lot more stubborn than she used to be and that her mind seemed to be able to produce a lot of smart answers (some would also call them curses), getting into a fight with her wouldn't have been a good thing. So, he decided to give in—err, _ignore_ her for the moment, and turned his attention towards his team. "Why is she here?" he asked, his voice cold and harsh, as it now usually was.

Juugo stayed quiet, but it wasn't like Sasuke expected an answer from him. The orange haired man was always like that, only talking when it was something concerning his person. Suigestu didn't open his mouth, either. Whether it was because he had noticed that his leader was not in a good mood and he didn't want to be the centre of his possible anger, or because he didn't know/care, Sasuke had no idea. And that left Karin, the annoying being with red hair and glasses, who had a thing for him ever since the first time she had seen him, and who didn't wasted an occasion to plead him to fuck her.

"Sasuke-kun, you know her?" she shrieked, a shocked expression plastered on her face. Err, did I mention the fact that she never seemed able to concentrate on what she was told? The Uchiha didn't answer, just stared blankly at her, as if letting her know that he was still waiting for an answer to his original question. She soon understood, a simple look in his dark eyes telling—cough_warning_cough—her that she'd better start talking, if she wanted to live until the next day.

It was no secret that Sasuke held no affection whatsoever for her (even if she chose to deny that), meaning that he wouldn't hesitate to kill her, so she quickly decided to answer, "She was there, making out with our target, so we had to get her out of the way!" she explained, causing Sakura to roll her eyes. Although the thought of jumping at her throat and ripping her apart, limb by limb, for lying seemed pretty appealing at the point, the pinkette decided to resume at a death glare, not wanting to waste her energy on a bundle of red fur. Sasuke's dark eyes slowly moved towards her, his expression betraying nothing of what he actually felt. Making out? With his target? With that dude? Sakura? It wasn't long until she felt his gaze on her and she turned to look at him, as well, green clashing with onyx in less than a second.

"Did you complete the mission?" he asked calmly, never breaking eye contact.

It was only after a few moments that Karin realized that the question was, in fact, directed to her and not to the pink haired bitch. "No," she answered quickly, the slightest hint of jealousy and annoyance present in her voice. "Because this idiot over here," she said, pointing to Suigestu. "Made his appearance way too early and the target immediately realized what was going on," she explained.

"I did not!" said person immediately exclaimed, trying to defend himself.

"Yes, you did!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"N—"

"Shut up!" Sasuke's voice rang through the clearing, effectively shutting up the two shinobi.

"Nice puppies," Sakura complimented sarcastically. She knew Sasuke pretty well, and she knew that he had always preferred people who listened to him, who obeyed his every command, to those who stepped up and defended their own opinions and points of view. But nobody could deny the fact that it was purely annoying to see how they listened to him, how they did all he told them. It made her sick.

"Hn," was his only answer. "What were you doing there?" he asked and she raised an eyebrow. Oh, come on. Was that question really necessary? Wasn't it obvious? The way she was dressed, Karin's words (lies, but still)…was he an idiot, or he was just playing with her?

"Well, you see," she started, fake sweetness covering her voice. "I was on my way back home from a mission and I was very frustrated and stuff, so I decided to relieve some of the stress, you know what I'm saying?" she asked, but didn't wait for a response; it wasn't like she was going to get one, anyway. "So, I walked into the bar, saw him and I instantly thought that fucking him would be a good idea," she finished, a smile present on her face. He just raised an eyebrow, for he knew that what she said wasn't true, and, if you asked him, it sounded childish. Not that a child would ever think of that. No, he was talking about the action itself—the fact that she would waste time like that. Seconds later, her smile disappeared and she threw him a death glare (you know, one that would make Itachi proud). "What do you think I was doing?" she snapped.

However, despite the fact that she seemed really mad and angry, Sasuke remained calm. "If I knew, I wouldn't have asked."

"I was on a fucking mission, goddamn it!" she yelled.

"What mission?"

"I can't tell you that."

"And why not?"

She gave a short laugh. "Do you even have to ask?" she asked, frowning slightly. "You're a freaking missing nin, S-rank criminal, who left his village, became the apprentice of a certain pedophile and killed his brother, and you still expect to be given that kind of classified information?" she yelled. He just stared blankly at her, showing no trace of emotion. "What?" she asked as she saw that his gaze was still fixed on her. "Did I miss anything? Any title you might have achieved?"

"Where's your team?" he asked, ignoring her words from earlier.

She rolled her eyes. "No team," she told him. Truth to be told, she felt kind of silly for answering his every question, for not having left the minute she found out that Katsu was gone, but, let's admit it: that was the only thing she could do. Sasuke was a stubborn person and not even Orochimaru could have changed that, which meant that he wouldn't give up until finding out what he wanted. She could only answer the questions she was allowed to and leave as soon as possible.

"No team?" he repeated, raising an eyebrow. "There's no need to hide anything, Sakura," he told her, his black eyes piercing through her.

She just laughed humorlessly and shook her head. "Although it's not your business, I already told you I have no team with me," she said and he opened his mouth to comment, but she cut him off, knowing exactly what he wanted to say. "Why? Because I can do this on my own; I don't need some puppies trailing after me, like other persons I know," she told him, discretely—or not—hinting him the fact that he had needed team Hebi in order to achieve his goal.

Don't get me wrong, she had nothing against the fact that those people helped him; what really bothered her was the fact that he had made it very clear that he didn't need team seven's help, what bothered her was the fact that he wandered around, searching for those four people, to form his team, when he could have had all the help and support from them, from Konoha. It wasn't like she cared very much about that; she did, in the past. But not anymore. Team seven and Sasuke were now just an old memory. Nothing more, nothing less.

Sasuke was not an idiot. He knew perfectly what she had hinted through those words and he didn't like it. _At all_. He hadn't needed team Hebi to help him kill his brother—he could have done it by himself. He just used them because he knew they would make his task a lot easier, which would allow his revenge to be completed a lot faster. But, why did she care? She had nothing to do with him, much less with team Hebi. What was in the past, was in the past and that's the way it was going to remain. Maybe she was frustrated because he didn't choose team seven over team Hebi—that could be a reason, even though the pinkette didn't seem to care very much about him. Not anymore, that is. Anyway, with or without reasons and excuses, Sakura's words weren't the smartest she could have used. Because he was an Uchiha. He was Uchiha Sasuke and everyone with half a brain knew better than insulting him.

"You think you're strong?" he asked.

"I don't think," she told him as she took a step forward, shortening the distance between them. "I am," she clarified and he scoffed. "But I wouldn't have you understand what being strong means."

"I don't think I could understand what being strong means for you," he said. "And if walking around dressed like that and fucking S-rank criminals for information, labels you as strong, then I don't think I even want to understand." Truth to be told, he didn't know where that came from. Maybe it was because she insulted him and, let's face it, he never liked being insulted. Or maybe it was because of that feeling that wormed its way into his heart as soon as Karin explained what the pinkette had been doing with his target. He had no idea what that feeling was, but he wasn't so sure he wanted to find out.

Although it was a lot more noticeable on Karin's face, everybody else was shocked to some extent. The redhead, however, wasn't sure what feeling dominated—shock or jealousy. She had been on a team with Sasuke for a long time and had had enough missions and opportunities (if you could call them that) to seduce guys in order to find out important information, but the Uchiha had never acted that way towards her. He never questioned her clothing and never called her a whore. And, while the last one wasn't exactly something that a normal girl would wish to hear from the man she loves, Karin couldn't help but wish that he would offer her that amount of attention. It was strange, but that's what she felt.

To say that Sakura was shocked would be an understatement. Never in a million years had she expected something like that from Sasuke. Sure, she knew she had successfully managed to annoy him, but she wouldn't have thought he'd react like that. Besides, who the hell did he think he was, talking to her like that? She could have sworn that, at that point, she wanted nothing more than to punch that pretty face of his and send him flying back to Sound village. But then, the rational part of her interfered and took control, making her realize that, in that particular situation, the only thing she had to rely on, was her intelligence.

"You should be happy," the pinkette finally spoke, attracting attention towards her. "Maybe one of these days I'd be sent to fuck you," she spat, her emerald eyes narrowed in a death glare.

Sasuke gritted his teeth in an effort to surpass the anger that was running through his system. Instead, he chose to focus his attention on something else, something a lot more useful. "What was your mission?"

Sakura stood quiet for a few moments, silently contemplating what to do._ 'I guess that it won't hurt if I do tell him, right? He couldn't do anything about it, not to mention the fact that the mission is already screwed.'_

**_'I personally think you should use this to your advantage,'_** her inner pointed out and, for the first time, Sakura found herself agreeing with it.

"Tell me your mission and I'll tell you mine," she said, staring defiantly at the Uchiha in front of her. Sasuke, although taken aback by her statement, glared at her, already annoyed. Sakura had always been smart and it seemed like it got even better (or worse, for him) over the years. Anyway, it seemed like the pinkette had no intention to tell him what he needed to know if he didn't comply, and, no matter how annoying and frustrated it was, he knew he had no choice. So, he opened his mouth to talk, only to be cut off by one of his teammates.

"We have to kill the dude!" Suigestu spoke simply, leaning against his huge sword.

The Uchiha spared him a quick glare for interrupting him, but returned his gaze towards Sakura, waiting for what she had to say. "I have to get a scroll from him," she finally explained, her eyes locked with Sasuke's.

It was then when the brilliant idea popped into Suigestu's head. "Hey, why don't you join our team? We'll hunt that dude down together!" There was no denying the fact that Suigestu found the two able to make some very entertaining scenes when together, and he wouldn't mind having them around for a while. Not to mention that the pinkette's presence seemed to make Karin very angry and jealous, which was another source of entertainment for him. However, much to his displeasure, the only thing he got in response for his proposal, was a short laugh from Sakura and a raised eyebrow from the Uchiha prodigy. "Really, think about it!" he exclaimed. "You won't have to do anything with him anymore! We'll kill him and give you the scroll!"

"I'd rather sleep with him a million times than be on the same team with this bastard," the pinkette muttered under her breath, but was rudely ignored by the others, the only sign of acknowledgement being a glare from the Uchiha.

"And why would we do something like that for her?" Karin shrieked, a frown present on her features.

"Because…" the white haired man trailed off, trying to find a good reason. "Because she'll help us with something, too!" he finally said, nodding to himself in approval.

"We don't need her," the redhead huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Yes, we do! Err, Sakura tell us you're a medic!" he ordered, only to have her raise an eyebrow at his behavior. "Are you?"

"I am," she answered. "What's with you?"

"See? Sasuke, we need a medic in our team!" Suigestu exclaimed.

The Uchiha opened his mouth to retort, but the pinkette cut him off, "I really don't understand what you're trying to do," she told the white haired man. "Because I have made it very clear that I have no intention of joining a team of S-rank criminals who, above all, are now members of Akatsuki," she said. "If you guys hadn't made your appearance, by now, I would have already completed the mission."

"That's why you should let us make up for it!" Suigestu exclaimed, only to be ignored by the pink haired kunoichi, who continued to talk like he hadn't said a thing.

"If I had been so close this time, I'll manage to do it again." That being said, she turned around and began walking away from them. However, the Uchiha's next words managed to stop her.

"We have his next location," he spoke, though he wasn't sure why. As predicted, she stopped and turned to face him once again, taking a few steps towards him.

"How?" she asked calmly.

He smirked at her cautiousness. "We've been informed of his route," he answered simply.

"Prove you're not lying." His smirk just grew wider, but he complied and stuck his had in his pocket, pulling out a folded piece of paper and holding it towards her. She wasted no time in taking it and unfolding it, realizing that, true to his word, the paper contained Katsu's supposed location. "Why?" she asked; he just raised a questioning eyebrow, not understanding her question, and she immediately clarified, "Why are you doing this? Why do you want me in your team?"

"My reasons are obvious. Suigestu had already stated them."

She nodded. "Then give me one good reason that would make me join you."

"As a shinobi, you should choose what's best in order to complete your mission," he replied calmly, staring at her with piercing black eyes.

She stared back, but stood quiet for a while, analyzing her options carefully. It was only after a few minutes that she nodded, "Fine. But under a few conditions," she said and patiently waited for a reply from her ex teammate. She didn't get one; instead, he threw her a questioning stare, silently telling her to continue. "I will not listen to your orders, Sasuke. You are not my leader and every decision you make, you'll at least tell me about it. This is my mission, too, and you're not going to leave me out of this." He inwardly rolled his eyes at her requests and resisted the urge to yell at her, to tell her that he wouldn't do what she wanted, to tell her that he could complete the mission without a medic on his team. However, for some unknown reason, he found himself unable to do so.

So he nodded.

* * *

_**A/N:** And so ends chapter two. Did I mention that I freaking love you guys very, very much? 'Cause I do. And I'll love you even more if you leave me some reviews this time, too. So, review please!_

_P.S. My other stories will be updated soon. And I also have an annoying idea in my head that needs to come out as soon as possible._


	3. I Don't Trust You

_**A/N: **Hello, everybody and thank you all—so, so much—for all your reviews! I apologize for the long wait, but you know me and you know how many other stories I have to write chapters for. Enjoy!_

_English is not my first language so, sorry for any mistakes._

**_Summary:_**_ Sakura, now an Anbu of Konoha, has a mission. Sasuke, still a missing nin, currently member of Akatsuki, has one, too. Saying that he got angry when he learned that she was in a bar flirting with his target would be an understatement. That, until he found out that the guy was her target, too._

**_Warning:_**_ Rated M for mature themes, violence and language._

**_Disclaimer:_**_ Naruto © Kishimoto Masashi_

* * *

**_Used to be  
_**_By The Terrorist_

**(---X---)**

_**Chapter three:  
**I Don't Trust You_

* * *

_Because of you, I never stray too far from the sidewalk  
Because of you, I learned to play on the safe side so I don't get hurt  
Because of you, I try my hardest just to forget everything  
Because of you, I don't know how to let anyone else in  
Because of you, I'm ashamed of my life because it's empty  
Because of you, I am afraid_

* * *

"Come on, pinky! What's taking you so long?" Suigestu's loud voice cut through the silence of the room, causing the pink haired girl to roll her eyes. After the whole proposal thing, Sasuke decided that it would be better if they didn't waste anymore time and left right away, so she had been sent to pack her belongings and, of course, change her outfit. Well, not sent, because that didn't sound right; Sasuke just told her to do so and she did, 'cause it needed to be done.

But the young Uchiha was still as bossy and as arrogant as ever, and that annoyed Sakura to a considerable extent. When he told her: _"Go get your things and do it fast,"_ something inside her just snapped and she knew, from that moment on, that she had to do anything in her power to defy him. After all, who the hell did he think he was? Sure, in his little world—_ahem_, his navy-blue bubble—he was the only one who could get stronger, who could do anything he wanted, who could order everybody around and, of course, who was _always_ right.

He just needed somebody to kick some sense into him, Sakura noticed. Not that she wished to be that person._ No._ She had stopped caring about the Uchiha's fate a long time ago. Right now, she just wanted to complete the mission.

"Piiiiiiiinkyyyy!"

That's why she decided that a nice, hot shower would do her good, considering that they had a lot of traveling to do. She loved long showers, so she took her time. She even dried her hair, a thing she rarely did. So far, however, the only person annoyed was Suigestu. Though Sakura had no doubt that Sasuke might have been brooding in a corner, shooting death-glares at each person passing by.

But then again, her intention _wasn't_ to annoy him.

"Pinky!"

Growling quietly, the pinkette quickly crossed the room and slid the balcony door open, stepping outside and leaning against the railing. She didn't even bother with her state of undress—the fact that she only had a bra and some pants on was the last thing on her mind.

"I'm fucking getting dressed!" she hissed, glaring down at the four members of team Hebi. "Do me a favor and don't wake up the whole hotel, 'kay?" With that, she turned around and disappeared inside the room, resuming her actions. She pulled on a simple black shirt, deciding not to wear her Anbu uniform, then gathered the rest of her belongings and neatly stuffed them into her backpack. Slinging it over her shoulder, she grabbed the keys of her room and quickly got out. It didn't take long for her to arrive downstairs; after leaving the key to the half-asleep receptionist and paying for her stay, she left the building and casually walked in the direction the others were sitting.

Sasuke was leaning against the wall, looking down, his bangs covering his face. Juugo was sitting down, leaning against the trunk of a nearby tree; some birds were resting on his outstretched hand, and he was looking at them with a soft, yet unreadable expression. And then there were Karin and Suigestu who were fighting over something that she had yet to understand.

Taking a deep breath, she finally spoke, "I'm ready. We can go now."

"You sure took your time, didn't you?" Karin growled, glaring at the pink haired kunoichi. Sakura, however, just blinked innocently, not sharing the redhead's apparent enthusiasm for a fight. She was most definitely annoying and, for some reason or another, she didn't seem to like her very much. Sakura had a feeling she knew what was all this about—Karin was _jealous._

It was obvious that she was in love with the Uchiha—her behavior resembled the one of a thirteen year old Sakura—and the fact that Sakura had known him for a very long time—even though they hadn't seen each other in years—made her feel…_uneas_y, annoyed, frustrated; even threatened, maybe. It would surprise a normal person, because neither Sasuke, nor Sakura had given her reasons to feel threatened, but it didn't surprise the pinkette. After all, she was more than familiar with a fan-girl's judgment. She still had trouble believing how stupid and foolish she used to be.

_'It's a good thing I've changed,'_ she thought. Sasuke seemed so different, that Sakura couldn't deny that she was happy to have given up on him a long time ago. It was after their encounter at Orochimaru's base, that Sakura finally stopped to analyze the situation she was in. She realized that she was in love with an illusion, with a person that didn't exist anymore. She remembered thinking about how cold Sasuke had become, about how much Sound had changed him. He had been more than ready to kill Naruto and he probably would have done so, if Orochimaru hadn't made his appearance. It was then when she realized that, for _them_, there was no hope left.

She realized that, no matter how strong and how worthy she would become, Sasuke would never love her back. So she gave up on him. She began thinking about him less and less, forcing herself to remember what she had witnessed at the base every time he—or rather, his thirteen year old version—appeared into her mind; eventually, after many months, he disappeared from her thoughts. There were rare times when Naruto and Kakashi mentioned him and, when they did, she was pleased to find out that hearing his name didn't hurt as much as it used to.

Believe it or not, that knowledge gave her strength. For some unknown reason, she felt more motivated than ever to start a new life, to get new goals and to achieve them. She began training more, concentrating on making it as far as she could in ninja ranks; and, this time, it wasn't because she wanted to bring him back, but because she wanted to prove herself. Not to him, but to everybody else.

She didn't even realize when she had made it to Anbu—everything was a blur. It was all about training, hospital, missions, eating—just enough to stay alive—, sleeping and more training. She realized that she could achieve everything she wanted if she were perseverant enough. And she knew that she could forget Sasuke, too. Sure, not _Sasuke-kun_; not his thirteen year old self. No, she couldn't forget that—she _didn't want_ to forget that. Those were good times, good memories. Their first mission as team seven, Naruto's and Sasuke's fights, the chunnin exams, all the stupid things they had done together, everything they had been through…she would _never_ forget that. Those memories were well tucked into her heart and mind.

What she wanted to forget was _this _Sasuke and the feelings she once had for him.

And she did it. Now, she could proudly say that she felt nothing for the man that stood in front of her. Except maybe…_hate_? Maybe that word was too harsh, but it was the only one that could describe what she felt towards him. She hated him for doing what he did, for betraying the village, for leaving her and Naruto behind, for hurting everybody who had cared for him. She hated what he had become—that cold, unrecognizable person, that stranger.

But then again, it was inevitable. People change, feelings change, everything changes. In the end, nothing remains as it used to be.

She had changed, too. She was nothing like her younger self. Sakura was now colder, calm and collected; she knew what to do in every situation and, if she didn't, she quickly found a solution. Being an ANBU member had changed her perspective about life more than she'd thought it would. She had seen countless lives taken away—_she_ had taken away countless lives.

At first, she had nightmares, she felt guilty, dirty; she even considered giving up at one point, thinking it was way too much for her to handle. But she soon got used to it; she realized that, no matter how much she'd like it to, there was no good and evil and that she had to respect her Kage's orders because that was her duty as a kunoichi. She understood that it didn't matter if the person she killed was innocent, guilty or a criminal who had taken away several lives by himself; what mattered was that they were at the wrong place, at the wrong time, and that they needed to be killed in order for others to stay alive.

In the end, it was all for the better.

"We'll head for the first location," the Uchiha spoke, not ever bothering to spare Sakura a glance. "It shouldn't take us long to get there—by tomorrow evening we should be at least close to the village. We'll talk about the plan later." If the situation had been different, Sakura would have rolled her eyes and spat some colorful things at him for being an arrogant ass. But, in reality, she had nothing to complain of—after all, his plan did seem flawless. "Let's go."

**(---X---)**

The way there was long and tiring. It was painfully obvious that Sasuke wasn't very fond of breaks, for they had only stopped two times—at a stream, where they drank some water and sat down for five minutes, and in the middle of the forest, because Suigestu abruptly jumped from the trees and took a seat on the forest floor. He had been complaining for a few hours—though the only one actually listening to him was Karin—and even threatened that he'd stop by himself a few times, but Sasuke didn't even bother with a reply (not even a _'hn'_). So, he finally decided to take matters into his own hands and did as he promised to do.

Sasuke had merely rolled his eyes and glared at him but, aside from that, nothing. He just leaned against a tree and began brooding; the cocky bastard didn't even seem tired enough to sit down. After another five minutes, he decided it was time to go, and they hadn't stopped ever since then.

It was already dusk when they arrived at their destination; it seemed like Sasuke had finally realized that all of them—_including him_—were way too tired to do anything right—especially an assassination—that night. They set camp close to the village—actually, they just made a fire, but, considering the fact that they were mostly likely going to sleep there, it could be called a camp.

At Sasuke's order, Suigestu and Karin went to get some firewood; Sakura sat down and leaned against a tree, having no intention whatsoever to help them in any way. Juugo did the same—though Sakura knew he was far too kind to feel the same as her—and sat down opposite from her. Sasuke had disappeared the moment after he barked some orders and the pink-haired girl could only guess that he went to scan their surroundings.

Karin and Suigestu returned a few minutes later, each carrying a bunch of wood for the fire; as usual, they were fighting over something stupid.

Sakura didn't need to be a genius to pick up on their personalities; actually, she could say she already knew them fairly well, no matter the small amount of time they had spent together.

Suigestu was an idiot, his behavior resembling Naruto's more than Sakura would have wanted. He seemed indifferent, like he couldn't care less about what happened around him, but the pinkette noticed just how attached he had grown to his team. He spent most of his time mocking his team, making fun of everything around him, which always resulted in him getting beaten by Karin. He was fun to be around and had that talent to bring a smile to peoples' faces—or, at least that's what Sakura noticed; Sakura could say that he was his favorite, though she still couldn't decide between him and Juugo.

The orange-haired man was incredibly quiet and kind. She remembered how surprised she was when he first talked to her—rarely did a stranger talk like that, especially an S-rank criminal. Of all the people around, he seemed like the most disinterested person of the group, and Sakura would even go as far as believing that he didn't have a selfish reason for being there. But then again, she couldn't know that for sure.

Karin, the only feminine presence of the team, appeared to be tough and in control, though her attitude changed severely whenever their leader was around. She was violent and kicked Suigestu every time he opened his mouth to comment about something, or to mock her. Unlike her white haired teammate, however, she didn't show any sign of attachment towards her team—spare for Sasuke—and constantly insisted that a team formed by only her and the Uchiha would be so much better (Sakura had heard her commenting about that a few times that day).

And Sasuke…well, she really didn't want to think about it. He was cold, emotionless, selfish, arrogant, quiet…he was just…_different_, and she wasn't eager at all to discover what else he had hidden underneath that façade.

_'Speak of the devil and the devil shall appear,'_ she thought to herself as her sensitive ears picked up his soft footsteps. It was, indeed, Sasuke; after a few moments, he made his appearance, but didn't talk as Sakura had expected him to. Instead, he sat down, leaned against a tree trunk and closed his eyes for a brief moment. Ha, so the bastard _was_ tired, after all.

"Sasuke," she spoke, attracting attention towards her. Suigestu and Karin stopped arguing, Juugo looked up and Sasuke just raised an eyebrow as a silent sign of acknowledgement. "What do we do now?" she asked.

Under normal circumstances, she wouldn't have asked something like that, for she was capable of making her own plans, her own decisions. Add the fact that this was_ her _mission and that Tsunade had trusted her _alone_ with it, and you could easily realize just how much it hurt her pride to do what she had just done. But, as annoying as it may be, these were not normal circumstances, and Sakura was well aware of the fact that it was_ Sasuke_ who knew Katsu's location and it was _him_ who probably knew what they had to do in order to complete the mission.

In this situation, Sakura couldn't think of a good plan. She didn't have all the necessary details, not to mention that she had no idea where she was, either. There was not doubt that she could have found Katsu by her own, but that, if she hadn't accepted Sasuke's proposal. Right now, she was in too deep, she had trusted them with too much, she had relied on them. It was horrifying, to some extent, but the pink-haired kunoichi knew that it was all for the better.

For a moment, he seemed _amused_, and that didn't help her current mood at all. "I thought you said you weren't going to listen to my orders," he stated, rather bluntly, though she didn't fail to hear the amusement latched in his voice.

"Don't flatter yourself," she hissed coldly. "You've always made stupid decisions, so I don't have any intention of listening to your…_orders_," she stressed out the last word, "but, unfortunately, you're the one who knows all the information, so you're going to have to tell me about it."

At that, the Uchiha threw her one of his death-glares. He didn't like this new Sakura—she was harsh and cold, not wasting one opportunity of throwing his mistakes into his face; she was too feisty, too independent, too outspoken and definitely _too annoying_. "And if I don't want to?"

She just started at him in impatience, as if knowing perfectly that that wasn't his intention. "Don't fuck with me, Sasuke."

He merely rolled his eyes at her blunt statement, while Suigestu snickered and Karin glared at the pinkette. He didn't like the fact that she swore so much, either; the Sakura he knew was way too innocent for that and because of that, Sasuke had to remind himself that she had changed. _And he didn't like that_. He was an Uchiha; he was smart enough to understand something the moment he realized it, but, for some unknown reason, his brain just didn't want to wrap around that idea.

Sighing, he decided that telling them about the plan that had formed into his mind throughout the whole day was the best thing he could do. "As far as we know, in this village there's a building in which a lot of S-rank criminals gather togather. This guy is supposed to be here, too, though we can't know that exactly. Tomorrow, I'll go see if he's there; if he is, and if I have the change to kill him, I will, but if I don't, I will come back here and we'll talk about another plan."

Of course, Sasuke didn't like the fact that he couldn't just barge in there and kill their target, but he couldn't do anything about it. Those were dangerous people and, even if he hated to admit that, he knew Katsu was strong, too. Not up to his level, _but still_. He knew from experience that he had to wait for the right moment and not rely on his—_criminal_—instincts; otherwise, the mission would be automatically screwed.

"I want to go with you," Sakura stated, surprising him.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "And why is that?"

"I don't trust you." Her statement was blunt and held so much sincerity that it almost made him wonder what he had done for her to believe that. But he quickly shook the thought off, not even wanting to remember the long list of reasons she had.

"I could say the same thing about you," he shot back.

"Oh please," she scoffed. "Anyone with half a brain would realize that I have to intention whatsoever to betray you. I'm fucking with my luck right now and you know it. People know me; it would only take somebody seeing me and reporting to Tsunade, to make everything I've managed to achieve tumble down. The simple fact that I decided to join you should speak volumes," she spat. "Besides, what could I gain from betraying you?"

"I don't know." He sounded like he was mocking her and the smirk on his face only served to prove that. "Take me _home_, perhaps?"

"_Home_?" she laughed. "You have no home, Sasuke_-kun_. Not anymore, that is." She paused and shook her head, a mocking smirk present on her face, as well. "Tsunade would kill you on the spot."

If he was bothered by her words, he didn't show it. "Exactly. That's a good reason for you to run off and report to some Anbus about my location." He paused, his eyes narrowing in a glare. "You'd want me dead, wouldn't you?"

Her smirk grew. "You know, I love it when you act like this; when you worry about somebody betraying you, about being hunted down and killed like a rat—when you act like the fucking traitor you are," she spat, returning his glare at full force. "And yes, I'd love to you dead, to see you finally paying for everything you've done._ But_," she continued, "fortunately for you, people still care about you, though I can't see why, because you certainly don't deserve it."

"Is that one of the reasons you didn't betray me yet?"

"No. That's the reason why I _won't_ betray you, even after all this is over."

"Hn."

"Let's concentrate on the mission, shall we?"

"Hn."

"I'm going with you tomorrow."

"Whatever."

* * *

_**A/N:** I'm sorry for making this chapter so short, but this had been more of a filler-chapter. I have big plans for the next one, though, so I promise it will be worth it.  
Some of you may question Sakura's behavior. Well, all I can say is that…things aren't always as they seem. Everything will have an explanation in the end._

_So…leave me some love and review, please!_


	4. Keep Up The Act

_**A/N:** Gosh, it's been so long! I'm so very sorry for making you wait, but between having to deal with school, other stories and lack of inspiration, I'm likely to go nuts. Hope that doesn't happen, though. I also want to thank you all for your reviews—they really do motivate me. You guys are amazing!_

_And now…enjoy the chapter!_

**_Summary:_**_ Sakura, now an Anbu of Konoha, has a mission. Sasuke, still a missing nin, currently member of Akatsuki, has one, too. Saying that he got angry when he learned that she was in a bar flirting with his target would be an understatement. That, until he found out that the guy was her target, too._

**_Warning:_**_ Rated M for mature themes, violence and language._

**_Disclaimer:_**_ Naruto © Kishimoto Masashi

* * *

_

**_Used to be  
_**_By The Terrorist_

**(---X---)**

_**Chapter four:  
**Keep Up The Act  
_

_

* * *

_

_Life's a game but it's not fair  
I break the rules so I don't care  
So I keep doing my own thing  
Walking tall against the rain  
Victory's within the mile  
Almost there, don't give up now  
Only thing that's on my mind  
Is who gon' run this town tonight_

* * *

"I can't believe we'll have to climb trees _without_ using our chakras."

"Don't be stupid. It can't be_ that_ hard."

"This coming from the person that can't even_ fuck_ without using her chakra."

"I can say the same thing about you!"

"Nah, you can't."

"Wanna bet?"

"I mean, you _can_, but you'd be lying."

"I doubt it."

"If I was having this conversation with someone else, I'd say I could prove it. But, this is you I'm talking to, so I won't."

"What is that supposed to mean?!"

"That's supposed to mean something like this:_ I wouldn't fuck you even if it were a life and death situation_."

"How can you even think of that? I would never let you touch me!"

"Yeah, you keep waiting for your_ Sasuke-kun_ to come and fuck you—that way, you'll stay a virgin forever."

…

"Oh, wait. You've _already _fucked like…half of the male population back in Otokagure."

**(---X---)**

Sakura didn't know why the Uchiha had seen it as a necessity to leave his team with something to do, nor did she know why he had told them to climb trees of all the things.

It wasn't like she cared. No, don't get me wrong—_she didn't_. She was just curious.

Climbing trees was an easy task. Even easier when they didn't have to use their chakras. And why would they even need to…_practice_? Seriously, with each second that passed by, the pinkette became more and more convinced that her ex-teammate—and current teammate, if you stopped and thought about it for a moment—had gone nuts.

No, scratch that—she _knew _he had gone nuts.

But that was far from her business. Her business here was to finish the freaking mission so that she could go home as soon as possible; seriously, all the thinking she was doing at night about how bad it would be for her if somebody saw her with team Hebi—or even _around_ them—was driving her crazy. She had never broken so many rules at a time, and, certainly, the ones she had broken were not as important as these ones. She felt scared, but not the kind of scared that made her tremble and pray to God for everything to turn out fine; it was the kind of scared that made her…_paranoid_.

Well, maybe we can't really talk about _'paranoia'_, but, every time they encountered a group or felt some chakras, she couldn't help but look—or rather _examine_—the persons closely, wanting to find out if she knew them, or if_ they_ knew _her_. She had this urge to run and hide behind Sasuke—and, no, she had no idea why him, of all the persons, because Juugo was much, _much_ bigger, but she didn't actually pay much attention to the matter—so that they wouldn't see her, wouldn't recognize her.

By now, it was getting _ridiculous._

And, to be honest, it had been more than once that she stopped and asked herself: _'Why the hell am I doing this? I can do it on my own without risking a thing'. _Because she could—she _knew _she could. The fact that it would be easier to complete this mission with team Hebi around didn't mean it was impossible to do so otherwise. In other words, she didn't actually _need _them. But, for some reason, she decided to be here, she decided to risk losing everything, she decided to be close to him again, and she didn't even know why she did so.

She was fucking crazy, she knew it. She also knew that she should be smart and leave—at least, that's what a normal person would do, in her place. But she also knew that, for some unknown reason, she _couldn't_. She didn't even need to try it to realize that she couldn't—she knew herself pretty well, and she was sure she'd return in the following five to ten minutes.

"Hn, let's go."

And since that didn't seem possible, Sakura decided to get her shit together and concentrate. If she were lucky enough, maybe she'd even get to leave for Konoha tonight. If everything went as planned, that is. Obviously, _planned_ meant, in the first place, finding that motherfucker there.

To be sincere, she doubted they would, and it was not necessarily because luck seemed to avoid her nowadays; she just had a feeling that things would not go according to the plan, that something bad would happen, something that would make their—_or Sasuke's_—plan tumble down. And, yes, she knew she could trust this kind of feelings—she couldn't trust them when it seemed to her that something good would happen, but she could _definitely_ trust them when they predicted something bad.

_Definitely._ No mistakes included.

Obviously, she kept her mouth shut and didn't tell Sasuke a thing about this. Many years ago, she would've. She would have told him what she felt, she would have warned him, she would have asked him to stop, to rethink the plan and do this on another occasion.

_But not this time._

Having him look at her strangely, with those eyes so full of arrogance, his expression screaming at her _'you're so stupid',_ was something that didn't sound quite appealing to her. _Not at all_. Sure, a part of her told her that she should tell him, because teammates were supposed to share everything, from feelings, to thoughts and opinions, in order for the mission to work out right, but she simply didn't want to.

For one, he wouldn't believe her, and for two, she had no obligation whatsoever towards him. He had never considered her a teammate, a person worthy of his attention, of his words; he had never, _ever _told her anything, he had never asked her about her opinions, her thoughts, her feelings. It was obvious that things hadn't changed that much, because he didn't do any of those things now, either. It seemed that, for him, she was still the same weak, little girl he had left behind all those years ago.

But that didn't bother her anymore; Sakura couldn't care less about his opinion of her—he could go to hell, for all she cared, together with his arrogance and annoyingly cold façade.

Long story short, she chose that he didn't deserve to be told, _period_.

When they arrived there, it was already dusk. The sky had various colors, from dark blue, purple and hot pink, to bright orange, where the sun had disappeared behind the mountains. The light coming from the village was still faint, still bathed in the orange glow from the sky. The streets were crowded, busying with activity, which allowed them to easily slip through the village unnoticed. Sakura had no idea where he was taking her and, even though her instincts told her that it was not a good thing, that she shouldn't let him lead her, _control_ her in that manner, she couldn't bring herself to stop in the middle of the street and ask for information.

Someone might hear them, she was aware of that. But she was also aware of the fact that that was not exactly the reason why she let herself be controlled like that—if _'controlled'_ was the right word, because she wasn't so sure about that. _No._ The real reason—and she knew that, in the back of her mind—was that she still—_still_, damn it, _still!_—trusted him. One way or another, her mind still managed—_somehow_—to mix him with the notion of safety, of protection, of trust, of…_of_ _home_.

What a stupid mind she had, right? Yeah, her mind could be pretty stupid sometimes. Especially when it came to him; for some reason or another, when he was involved, her mind tended to shut down completely.

A light touch on her elbow brought her back from her thoughts, but before she could turn her head to look at the person who had initiated the contact, she felt hot breath fanning against her ear, and she almost tripped on her own feet as the knowledge of who exactly that person was hit her.

"Walk straight ahead, until you reach an old inn," he told her, his deep, husky voice sending shivers up and down her spine. "Then go west through the woods. You'll realize when to stop." And with that, he was gone, leaving behind no trace whatsoever that he had ever been there.

Although confused, at first, she soon realized his reasons for doing this—the obvious ones; that he might have some others was another thing—and she couldn't help but admit that, _once again_, he was right. Going separate ways was preferable—that way, people wouldn't find their presence suspicious, and wouldn't want to take a closer look to them, to examine them.

The landmarks he gave her were obvious, and, therefore, very easy to spot. There was no way she could have stopped and asked herself_ 'what old inn was he talking about?'_, because the building was big, mostly isolated, and looked like it would collapse in any moment. The forest spread out right behind it, so she didn't even have to waste time searching for it—not that it wasn't an easy thing to spot.

And, _holy motherfucker_, was he right when he said she'd know when to stop.

The building was _immense_. So huge that she had trouble believing that she hadn't noticed it from the moment she stepped inside the village._ 'The forest must do a great job at hiding it,' _she thought as realization dawned on her, _'of course, that should be its purpose'._ A tall, concrete fence surrounded the house—which, she guessed, couldn't be much smaller—with a wooden gate serving as the only way to get inside. It was guarded by two men, both ninjas—and pretty strong ones, judging by their chakra levels—both dressed in black and with Kakashi-like masks covering their faces.

Sakura narrowed her eyes, trying her hardest to find something distinctive, something that would mark them as a part of a group, something that would show her that they belonged to a certain country, but she found none.

"There's a small emblem on their jackets," a voice she knew all too well informed her, starling her in the process, though she managed to hold in her body's natural reaction to this. She quickly turned her head to look at him, just in time to see him silently landing on the branch next to her. At first, she didn't realize how in the world he had realized what she had been thinking, but she shook it off, knowing that she could still be rather readable at times. As for her question about how he had noticed that small—_minuscule_, if you asked her—detail, his red eyes gave her the answer.

"Oh," she replied, managing—_somehow_—to sound completely disinterested, when the revelation had certainly gotten her attention. A bunch of S-rank criminals gathering in a house to do God-knows-what was one thing; having guards, uniforms and emblems was another. For some reason, she had never thought of S-rank criminals as a bunch of organized persons, but rather as a bunch of people who killed everybody that crossed their paths, everybody who tried to stop them from achieving their purpose. "That's like…an entire mafia," she mused to herself, not meant for him to hear. "I didn't even know this existed."

It was only when she heard him scoff that she realized he had heard her, and the small sound of arrogance he made was more than enough to make her want to punch the living daylights out of him. "Yes, Sasuke, I know you did," she hissed, glaring at him. "But, unlike you, I'm not one of them, so I'm not informed of everything, you know."

Apparently, her words didn't manage to get a reaction out of him—not an obvious one, that is. "As an _ANBU_, Sakura," he hissed back, his voice cold and detached, no emotion whatsoever attached to it. "You should have known about this, you should have been_ informed_ of this."

"For your information," she spoke, turning her head to look at him, "as an _ANBU_, my job is to _kill_, not to _investigate_."

He had no idea why that sounded so absolutely wrong to him, nor could he recognize the strange feeling that curled into the pit of his stomach. Nevertheless, he chose to ignore it. "We're going to have to kill them," he spoke, as though he hadn't even heard her, "and take those jackets. It's the only way to get inside."

She raised an eyebrow at the simple way he put it. "And how exactly do you plan on killing them?"

"Aren't _you_ the expert in killing here?" Despite his sarcastic tone, his sentence made her aware of the fact that he had actually heard her previous sentences.

"I could _never_ reach your level," she answered calmly. "But I could make an observation, _if_ I may."

He hated it when she acted like this; he hated it because it was so not like her, because he was not used to it and because, _damn it_, he had no idea how to reply. Truth to be told, he preferred the bitchy Sakura he had seen two nights before, the Sakura that hissed, glared and spat things at him. Because, by speaking this calmly, by showing no interest whatsoever in what they were supposed to do, by not arguing with him, she was proving him just how little she cared, just how insignificant she considered him to be. And, for some reason, that bothered him.

_It bothered him a lot._

"As you must have realized already, this…_thing_ is built in a clearing. It's an open field—you can't just go there and stab them. It will ruin everything."

She was right. _He knew_ she was right. That didn't mean he'd admit it, though. "We'll go to them and pretend we want something," he spoke as if that were the most obvious thing in the world. "Then we'll kill them."

"How?" There is no denying the fact that her question caught him off guard. "Judging by their chakra, they're highly trained, Sasuke. They're _your _level. And, just like you would, they'll anticipate your moves—they'll see the weapon, they'll avoid it, and we'll get in trouble."

No weapons, _fine_. He hadn't thought of it, right, but that was not a problem. _Not while he had her by his side_. "Hn," he grunted. "Then _you_ kill them. Use your medical skills, or whatever." He'd never say it out loud—or ever admit it to himself—but, in this situation, having her with him was an advantage. Surely, he could make it on his own—she just happened to make his job a lot easier. That's the reason why he asked her to join him, in the first place; he wouldn't tolerate her presence otherwise.

"Okay." She was surprisingly agreeable.

From then on, it didn't take long for the guys to fall to the ground, dead. None of them considered the two of them a threat; after all, if somebody wanted to attack this place, they'd probably come with a whole army, and, in any case, they would be armed and in fighting stance, not walk causally towards them. That was probably their only mistake. She approached them silently, giving no signs of danger whatsoever; he saw the opening their mouths to speak, but they didn't get to do so—with one simple touch to their foreheads, they were dead.

Sasuke knew she was a medic, and he knew that, in the ninja world, many medics were able to use everything they knew about the human body to their advantage and to other purposes than just healing. He had seen the small flicker of blue chakra in her fingertips. He realized what she had done and, in a way, how she had done it.

_But he couldn't warp his mind around it._

Because, no matter the fact that, during the last few days, she had proved that she had changed, no matter the fact that he knew, that he had understood how much of a different person she was, Sasuke was just not used to this…_deadly _side of her. Sure, it didn't bother him as much when she told him that her job was to kill—words were one thing, actions were another. He had never imagined he'd see her capable of _hurting _someone, not to talk about _killing_ someone—and killing someone in such a way.

When he told her that she should be the one to do it, he had never thought of this. She didn't even flinch; there was no emotion written on her face as she killed them.

And it did not suit her—it didn't suit her at all.

"We're going to have to move fast," her voice brought him back from his thoughts, his attention immediately directing to her; she was pulling her hair back in a ponytail, making sure no bangs would fall into her eyes. "I don't think it will be long until they realize there's something wrong."

**(---X---)**

The house itself wasn't much better than the fence surrounding it, Sakura noted. It was big and tall, with many rooms and corridors, all dark and narrow. It looked very much like a hotel, and she doubted that these people actually _lived_ here—they probably just came here to fuck and drink, knowing that this was the safest place where they could do it.

"How the fuck are we supposed to find him here?" she mumbled to herself, annoyed. At first, Sasuke's plan had seemed flawless to her; not only that he actually _admitted_ that there was a chance they wouldn't find him there—she liked that fact that he knew better than to infuse his plans with his arrogance—but he had—_seemingly_—thought of all the details, like splitting when going there.

But she now realized that it wasn't so perfect, after all. However, before a smug smile could appear on her face, she remembered that she did nothing to make this better, either. (_Not_ that she had been given the chance to.)

"Can't you sense his chakra or something?" His voice came from behind her, snapping her out of her thoughts.

Upon hearing that, she immediately whipped around, glaring. "Is it just me, or you've relied completely to me when it came to this mission?" Really, she liked the fact that he finally seemed to acknowledge her power, that he finally seemed to consider her a worthy comrade, a trusty person, but too much was too much. First it was him having relied on her medical abilities when it came to killing those people, and now this. And the worst part of it all was that he expected everything she did to be perfect; he hadn't said it, but she could feel it. She knew that, if she did something wrong, he'd immediately comment, and assume that she couldn't do things right even at something she was supposed to be good that.

Surely, she wouldn't give him the chance to do so.

"Of course not," he scoffed. "I didn't even want you here." Honestly, just because he allowed somebody to _help_ him with this didn't mean that he_ relied_ on that somebody. No, he was definitely _not_ relying on her—he was just…_including_ her into all this.

"Then why do you keep telling me to do this, to do that?" she whispered harshly, annoyed, yet careful not to drawn any attention towards them. "What would you do if I weren't here?"

"Do you really think I need you?" he spat, now fixing her with his own glare.

"No, I don't think so," she hissed back. "But you keep asking me to do some things that…let's face it, you can't." It stung, yes, but he really wasn't good with tracking chakras, and he wasn't about to argue now.

"So what? Weren't you the one who wanted to get involved?"

"Yes!" She tried hard to keep herself from yelling at him. "And since when do you care about what I want?"

"I never did!" he half-whispered, half-shouted, already annoyed.

"_Exactly_!"

"Look—" he started, trying his hardest to keep his voice down, to actually be able to close the subject without strangling her in the process, but was cut off as the sound of footsteps resounded in the hallways. Until now, they had managed not to bump into anybody, which was pretty lucky, considering that—by the _sounds_ of it—there were a lot of people in the house, but it seemed like this was as far as their luck went. This person must have heard them, or sensed their presence.

He raised her head to look towards the source of the noise, and saw a shoe rounding the corner of the poorly lit hallway. Annoyed, he mentally slapped himself for getting into a hissy-fit here, _of all the places_, and with Sakura, _of all the people_, and immediately prepared himself to kill this person—because, the way he saw it, that was the only way to get rid of him. But before he could make a move, she pushed him against the wall, covering his body with hers—which was pretty hard, considering that fact that he was much taller than her—and pressing her lips to his.

To say that he was shocked would be an understatement.

It wasn't until a few moments later—and he had no idea how much that meant—that he realized why exactly she was doing this. He realized that she did not jump on him because she was crazy, or because the fan-girl in her had resurfaced; he noticed that her hand fisted his shirt in the exact spot where a small Uchiha fan was engraved. He understood that she did this to save both of them _and_ the mission.

And she had acted so quickly, that it made him wonder just how many times she had done that before. Either she was taught to think and act fast, or she had found herself in such a situation before. For some unknown reason, he preferred the first one to be true.

Even so, with all the training and experience she might have had, it still seemed strange for her to have chosen to kiss him passionately instead of…something else; yet again, he had to remind himself that she had changed. Because the old Sakura wouldn't have done something like this, no matter how much of a fan-girl she was—maybe she would have kissed the old Sasuke, _her old Sasuke-kun_, but not _him_, not the S-rank criminal, not the person who had hurt her so much.

Nevertheless, it was a good thing that she now knew how to leave the emotional issue aside and concentrate on the mission.

And because he knew that her decision had been the best—_just because of that_—he responded to the kiss, so that it wouldn't seem suspicious. Her hand tugged at his hair as he switched positions, so that she was the one with her back pressed against the wall. She gasped at the sudden movement, and he took it as an opportunity to slip his tongue into her mouth, his hands moving to grip her hips tightly.

If she wanted to play like this, then they should at least make it seem real.

And the soft moan that escaped her seemed real enough. If not, it was certainly enough to convince the guy that he wasn't exactly needed around there.

"Hey, get a room!"

"The second door on the left," she whispered against his lips, and he obliged, knowing, somehow, that he could trust her. He fumbled with the doorknob for a moment—to keep up the act, _obviously_—and stumbled into the room with her. The moment the door closed and they were safely out of sight, she broke the kiss, her breathing pattern a bit off, and wormed her way out of his arms. Sasuke felt there was something wrong with the way she crossed at least half of the room in order to put some distance between them, but didn't comment on it.

After a few moments of silence, she was the first one to speak. "You know why I did that." She had no idea why she felt like she needed such a reassurance—maybe it was because she wanted to make sure he didn't get the wrong impression. Upon hearing his grunt, she knew he hadn't. "Good," she nodded. "Then let's go." Really, at that point, she wanted nothing more than to get out of there; she didn't even care whether they'd find Katsu tonight or not anymore—she just wanted to get out of there, to get away _from him_.

That kiss woke up some feelings in her that she did not recognize, nor had any intention to do so. She had always known, in the back of her mind, that being in such close proximity with him was not good for her—she would have never guessed that'd be proved to be true. Needless to say, she did not like one bit of it.

"He's still there," he spoke, stopping her from advancing forwards.

And it was true—she could still feel his chakra. "What the fuck is he still doing there?" she hissed to no one in particular and slapped a hand over her forehead. This was going so, _so_ wrong.

"Hn," he grunted as he leaned against the wall next to the door and buried his hands into his pockets; the pinkette found out, in that particular moment, just how much she hated his ability of remaining calm and cool in every situation. Like, come on, how couldn't that kiss have affected him in any way? And then she realized she was dealing with a human ice-cube, and not with a normal person, so she shook the thought off, deciding to concentrate on more important matters. "Doing his job," he deadpanned. _'What job?'_ she wanted to say_, 'getting turned on by the noises and then jacking off around corners, or what?' _"They're suspicious—they can't afford not to," he shrugged.

She frowned and opened her mouth to ask him just how the fuck he was so sure about that, but stopped herself in time, instead choosing to say, "Oh, right. And since you're so very accustomed to this rat-like lifestyle, would you mind telling me what we are supposed to do now?"

The only sign that showed her that he had heard her was a glare from him, but that didn't last long, either. "Wait until he leaves," he told her, as if she were the stupidest person in the world for asking something so obvious.

"It could take forever, you know," she hissed, glaring at him.

"Hn."

She totally _hated_ his lack of interest. "Listen, Sasuke, I kissed you in the hallway—and, _trust me_, it wasn't the most pleasant thing I've done in a long time—in order to save the mission." He glared at her—that had been _so_ not a sacrifice. "Now_ you _save it."

Did she really have to be such a child? This was a freaking mission, damn it, not a game where they got to take turns. "What am I supposed to do?" he hissed. "Show him that we're_ fucking_, or what?"

He had expected that to make her back off, to make her realize that there was nothing he could do in this situation other than remain here and wait for the guard to leave. To his surprise, however, she only crossed her arms over her chest, shifting her weight to her right leg. "If that's going to make him leave, then why not?"

* * *

_**A/N:** Longer than usual, I've noticed, too, but I thought you guys deserved it, since you've put up with me and my slowness. I remember I promised you some SasuSaku interaction in the last chapter—well, here it is, and I assure you it will continue in the next chapter, too._

_Also, so that there's no confusion, I remember that, in the last chapter, I'd had a few problems with editing it. There had been a _'Sasuke-kun'_ there, which, in fact, was supposed to be a _'Sasuke-_kun_'. _She was playing with him, yes. I'll edit it again once I have time and make it right, I promise._

_Anyway, I think I should leave, cause I still have some annoying homework waiting for me._

_As usual, one review = one cookie. Interested? Review, please!_


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